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Monday, February 11, 2013

It's Monday February 11th

It's Monday, and I'm here with my weekly reading update!

Don't forget to check out Teach Mentor Texts for other great roundups - or come join in yourself!

Newbery Challenge:Moon Over Manifest - by Clare Vanderpool
Did this one as an audio book. I always wonder how that impacts my enjoyment of a novel. The narrator was fabulous, and I really liked Moon over Manifest. I have to say I only "liked" it until I got near the end. Then Clare Vanderpool pulled the threads together in a way that I partially expected - but still surprised me. It was a good surprise. One that made sense and helped the entire storyline come together in my mind. Nicely done.

I didn't know how I'd feel about this one. It has an intriguing premise - "A" wakes into a new body every day. The way the story was told made it so much more than a fascinating tale. I gulped it down, because I just had to know how it ended. This is the kind of book that makes me wish I worked with older students, because I'd love to hand it to them and chat about it.

I read several others this week.

Herbert's Wormhole was a silly little science fiction tale - heavy on the illustrations but with some meat to it. This is a great "starter" science fiction for middle grade readers. I'd love to know if it gets kids interested in the physics in some of the scenes (because I'm not sure it's all depicted correctly).

Phantom Tollbooth was a many times reread - I am using it with a reading group. I love this book. I also paired it with a few picture books with that group. We started with I'm Bored and read Infinity and Me to build on one of the chapters.

The real gem this week was a book I read from my librarian's Netgalley. I Hate Picture Books! is a book you definitely want. Clever, well illustrated, and just fun.